Rothbury
Some years ago I bought a copy of Burke’s Peerage World Book of Storers. It purports to list all Storers around the world, some 14000, with just one listing for Storer in Rothbury. Rothbury is a small town in rural Nortumberland in the beautiful fertile valley of Upper Coquetdale. I wrote to the listed family, enclosing a copy of our family tree and received another surprise. They wrote back, very pleased to be in touch with other Storer relatives, and told me something fascinating; their family had lived on and worked the same farm since 1696. They knew of the North Shields connection and said there had been contact years before. I visited them in September 03 and was made very welcome. It was just before they moved out to make a break from farming. I hope to return to see if we can between us unravel more mysteries regarding our early forebears.
During our conversation mention was made of a book which is a history of Upper Coquetdale, by D D Dixon, and contains references to Storers in the area down the ages. The table below lists the dates and places in the book. As you can see the first reference is to a Muster Roll in 1538 in Snitter, a hamlet near
Rothbury. The Muster was held each year and all adult men had to assemble and declare their fitness for battle. This was because of the frequent attacks by Scottish raiders and the Border Reivers from Tynedale and Redesdale.
The records show that Storers were “Setters and Keepers of the Watch”. Every village and hamlet, every bridge and ford had to be guarded at night.
I believe my family is descended from the Storers named at the Muster for Snitter. Working back from Mrs Whitaker’s tree we can prove the link back to 1650. There are references to Storers from 1538 into the 1600s, all in the Rothbury area. I think there is a very high probability we are linked to them.
